Like I said, Israel already does not allow enough aid into the area through its official this-that.

Also, the aid is not for Hamas, and as far as I understand, not being delivered by Hamas. They are irrelevant here.

Lastly...

"In the Middle East, especially in Islamic countries, looking weak is the most "bad" thing that can happen to you. For recent example, the Iranian government has no problem looking barbaric to its own people"

Israel cannot afford more bad international press. It has no positive press at all. This might not have made such a scene if they just, oh well, didn't kill anyone. They look both weak and murderous now, as opposed to neither had they exercised restraint and intercepted the ships -properly-.

I am quite concern on th events unfold on the storming of the vessel in International waters by Isreal forces. The UN should investigate whether the seige vessel is in International waters. If it is indeed in Internal waters Isreal has violated The International Marintime Treaty and should be condemmed. If the vessel was indeed in Isreal waters,the act by Isreal was justified as the relevent vessel authorities was givem ample warning.

"I think, that carrying humanitarian aid, the ships thought they would get through."
Others have noted there are other established routes through peaceful countries in which to accomplish this task. It's not Israel's requirement to assume the aid was humanitarian and there's been a history of Hamas attempting to smuggle weapons in under the guise of humanitarian aid.

"Your comparisons (Japan vs US and Iraq VS Kuwait) all deal with a military aggressor, attacking another."
I guess you've taken the liberty of not treating Hamas as having a military wing? They seem to operate like a military. They aggressively launch rockets at Israel. Lapses in discipline seem to be corrected with the precision and brutality of a military...

"Israel is still standing there looking pretty bad because it can't afford any attention to be drawn..."
In the Middle East, especially in Islamic countries, looking weak is the most "bad" thing that can happen to you. For recent example, the Iranian government has no problem looking barbaric to its own people, just as long as it does not appear soft.

My own experience with talking to Iraqis, they didn't like Saddam, but his ability to kill at will, that they respected. With time, and as Iraq fell into chaos, Iraqis began to grow nostalgic for a psycho who could inspire unified fear.

The most dangerous thing Israel could have done is let the flotilla through. If they didn't, they would have appeared weak and many more Palestinians would have died from yet another intifada or the like- which serves no one.

Ugh, this whole conflict is so annoying.
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Annoying, Von Neumann? Commandos swooping down from helicopters at 4 in the morning on ships in international waters carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza, killing 10 and injuring dozens... Most of the world will find this a bit more than "annoying." They will recognize it as an act of piracy by a country that seems to hold itself above international law!

Until now Israel has been able to get away with murder, both literally and figuratively. Let's hope this incident will be the straw that breaks the camel's back and prompts the international community to action. Israel has to be held accountable, and the people responsible for these murders have to be brought to justice.

Don't expect any positive coverage from the NY Times or any other mainstream American news outlet, whether on TV or in newspapers. The NY Times reporter for the Israel-Palestine conflict, for instance, is an Israeli with a son presently enlisted in the IDF.

Anybody watching the footage knows that and if they don't they are in clinical denial and need psychological treatment.

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You're a little arrogant no...?

I mean, if in the dead of the night suddenly you hear helicopters and someone swoops down on you commando style -- your first reaction might be to hit them with a baseball bat as well...

I mean, classical example of taking footage out of context to portray a different story. Was the boarding legal, why was it done at night, why with this force, maybe the commandos taunted them first (before the video) etc etc. If you don't have this info then you can't draw a conclusion.

To illustrate, let's pretend for a second that the boarding was in fact illegal -- do the people on the boat not have the right to defend themselves? You seem to see things differently. Perhaps you are the one in need of some psychological treatment -- to work on that tunnel vision. Word has it the best therapist out there these days is Dr. Common Sense.

I think, that carrying humanitarian aid, the ships thought they would get through.

I mean, to the best of my knowledge, no big-bad weapon was found on these ships...?

Your comparisons (Japan vs US and Iraq VS Kuwait) all deal with a military aggressor, attacking another. Aid is not an the same, unless people start using French baguettes to knock out their enemies...

As for spitting in someones face. It's a big, very big extrapolation to say that trying to get aid to those who need it is spitting in your face. Again, razy Israeli government saying "We kicked them, they will stay down, and if you try to help them up (not even in a military sense, I mean It's humanitarian help to feed people etc...) we will kick you too!"

I mean seen alternatively, had the aid ships requested "nicely" to enter and deliver aid, Israel would have said no. It already allows under what the UN deems needed to enter the Gaza strip.

It may be a publicity stunt, I'll give you that; but even if that were true, Israel is still standing there looking pretty bad because it can't afford any attention to be drawn to the fact that it's blockade is effectively starving the area of the minimum aid it needs, and 'desperate' attempts to circumvent the Israelis end in bloodbaths.

It surely makes a good story, or well seen from the Israeli perspective, a bad one. For once the media didn't even have to lie/exaggerate, it's that bad already!

The really hot action is taking place on the Washington Post. Seventeen HUNDRED comments and still climbing. The Times has less than 50 comments, but everyone knows they censor everything before they post it, and they refuse to publish nine-tenths of the comments their readers submit. The owners and editors of The Times have extremely rigid and domatic views. Over at the New York Times, no reader may make any comment, unless it's liberalist, sweet and nice.

Although it tried to export Nuclear arms to Apartheid SA, Israel remains the only Apartheid state existing in the world under the aegis of the Hegemon and its allies. Therefore it can be expected to act in its national interests without regards to international laws like the Hegemon.

Who are these supposed Aid workers?
Why didn't they take Egypt's offer to land in Egypt, and have their humanitarian cargo trucked into Gaza, after being inspected?
Sounds to me that they wanted the confrontation.
When you play with fire, you run the risk of getting burned.
Also, These mostly Turkish humanitarians should focus on aiding and helping the Kurdish minority on their own soil which are being repressed.
Funny how Iranians, Iraqis, Turks, and Syrians are always ready to criticize the Jews for not giving Palestinians a homeland....yet all are Vehemently opposed to doing the same for the Kurds.

When South Korean warship is allegedly sunk by North Korea, the US strongly condemned. When the Israeli force killed civilians, the US cautiously played down the case.

For people who claimed the activists "attacked" the Israeli force first, I'd like to remind you that the Israeli force attempted to abroad and hijack ships in international water. This is de facto piracy. The activists have the right to defend themselves.

“Boarding” a ship in international waters and picking a fight with the people on board sounds like an act of piracy to me. Many would even call this an invitation to go to war with Turkey. That would probably be the case if this were Iran attacking an Israeli ship sent by anyone to anyone for any reason, regardless of whether the Israelis on board fired back with anything. Good thing Israel doesn’t get vilified every day in the media with made up stories of pursuing goals which could bring all humanity to death. On the contrary- precious, self-defending, worthy of all the world’s tax dollars Israel.

Not only was the raid illegal, but there was never any cause for alarm on the part of Israel, as the ship was inspected by a nation which was an allied government (Turkey), at least it was an ally prior to the attack.

I know most of the people on board this ship were Muslims, but could it be possible that the relief workers were the ones, rather than the Israeli commandos, who were truly defending themselves? Footage has shown the IDF landing armed and ready, and in my view, any retaliation in response to an illegal and unapproved raid by armed gunmen is a legitimate cause for self-defense.

How fortunate for the Israelis not a single one of their commandos were killed in their battle against pocket knife wavin’, fire emergency axe-armed, water pipe swingin’ Islamofascists. They sure were ready for a fight. If there aren’t at least hundreds of weapons and ammunition on that ship (assuming Israel doesn’t plant any), maybe Israel should stop the tough-talk and just apologize, because I don’t see what Turkey and the murdered civilians on board did to deserve this.

I hear Turkey wants to bring armed guards for future humanitarian ships, so here’s some advice: don’t bring Muslims with you while trying to feed and clothe Palestinians, otherwise certain media outlets will defend to their deaths Israel’s excuse for sinking your “battleship.”

So is the United States going to come to the rescue of its attacked NATO ally the way that ally joined the United States in Afghanistan after 9/11? Or just “express regret” that these things have to happen [to Muslims, because we can never tell what they’re up to]? I won’t get my hopes up. US leaders didn’t even take action when their own USS Liberty naval ship (with a large, clearly visible American flag waving proudly) was attacked by Israel in 1967, killing a number of American sailors. The US responded to this attack by continuing to kiss up to Israeli lobby groups the way a conquered third world nation would to its master empire. It looks like Turkish people are more aware of the Flotilla Massacre than Americans were about the USS Liberty.

Happy Memorial Day by the way, thanks for fighting fascism and liberating concentration camps.

The Zionist and its neo-Cons ally in Washington could easily deflect their international dilemma and internal problems with a strike on to Iran on the pretext of preemptive strike against an Axis of evil acquiring Nuclear arms.

All you have to do is watch the footage of the soldiers hitting the deck. They were set upon with baseball bats and clubs in a lynching. Sorry folks that what I see. Tell us what you see. This is very basic stuff. Those were not peaceful people on the boat. I have seen peace protests before and they tend to link arms and sing kumbaya. There is no sound on the footage I saw, so maybe they were still singing kumbaya, but with out doubt, if they were singing kumbaya, they were doing it as they lynched soldiers coming down the rope from the helicopter the moment they got near the ship deck. This was done in groups and I saw one of those being systematically beaten by a group while on the ground. If I was a soldier and my comrade in arms was on the deck being beaten to death by a few guys with baseball bats and blunt instruments, I would shoot them to save my comrade. Its that simple. The open lie here is that these were peace activists. Anybody watching the footage knows that and if they don't they are in clinical denial and need psychological treatment.

Like what has been going on in the cynical West in the world controlled by Hegemon, we should expect Shimon Peres to get a Nobel prize for Peace for his past roles in peddling nuclear arms to Apartheid regime and, his new roles talking about Peace in the Middle East. The Black Pharoah is no different from his predecessor because the Zionist interests are firmly wedded to the Washington Money, Power and media industry.